


Of Very Dramatic Occurences

by Kimiko93



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: About his scar, Cullen tells stories, Dragon Age Kink Meme, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Implication of love making before but nothing explicit, Kirkwall was kind of a shit hole, Tevinter architecture is dramatic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-22 07:24:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3720166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kimiko93/pseuds/Kimiko93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the Kink Meme prompt: </p>
<p>"When, where, and how did Cullen get the scar on his lip? Kinloch Hold? Perhaps he notices his lover likes to kiss and lick and touch it and eventually tells the story."</p>
<p>And the subsequent commentary:</p>
<p>"Seconding! I love thinking of all the ways he's got the scar... although he probably just opened the door with too much enthusiasm and slammed himself in the face XD"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Very Dramatic Occurences

**Author's Note:**

> This probably got a little away from me... Now I get why people make their Inquisitors complete non-entities in prompts. This one is canon for my maybe someday going to be posted lengthy story/play through documentation/meta form of criticizing the game for missed opportunities and has more personality than necessary for the prompt. Oh well. I hope you enjoy these dorks regardless.

“How did you get this?” Arenya asked softly, tracing the rugged line of his scar down to where it met his lips.

She immediately felt his mood change. He didn’t quite tense as he did when he was hit by withdrawal symptoms, yet his naked body squirmed just a little bit under the blankets, inching away from her embrace just the slightest bit.

“I’d… Rather not say,” Cullen answered, sounding evasive in a way reminiscent of their early days. The awkward days.

“I’m sorry,” she said hastily. “I didn’t mean to overstep… It happened at Kinloch Hold, didn’t it?”

“No, that’s not it,” he was quick to assure her, sounding… Embarrassed? “It’s just… Not a very interesting story…”

He was definitely embarrassed. So this wasn’t one of his more painful memories. That was good, it meant she could continue teasing.

“Oh, I doubt that,” she whispered, pressing a soft kiss against the scarred corner of his mouth. “From what I can tell, whatever cut you must have at least graced a major blood vessel, never mind the fact that lips are always well supplied with blood to begin with, so at least the bleeding must have been spectacular.”

He laughed at that.

“Only you would choose medical analysis for pillow talk,” he pointed out, but sounding more fond than put out, his right hand absent-mindedly combing through her hair. “You are correct, of course. It did bleed quite profusely.”

“Mmmhm,” she hummed. “So what caused it? I’d say a knife, since the cut is too precise for demon claws, and too deep for a staff blade.” Mages usually didn’t keep their blades very sharp – for most, they were purely ornamental and only a last resort when an enemy had come too close and mana was of short supply. Otherwise, there were more effective ways to deal with foes. She traced the scar with her pointer finger again, and gasped in excitement when a possibility popped up in her head. “Oh, did they send assassins after you?” She asked eagerly. “I mean, you were a powerful man in Kirkwall, for a while, so of course…”

“Nothing quite so spectacular, I assure you,” he stopped her before she could get too far ahead of herself. Then he sighed. “I can’t get you to drop the subject, can I?”

“Oh, you probably could,” she teased, shifting closer to him under the sheets and wrapping one of her legs around his for emphasize. “But I’d get back to it eventually.”

“Fine,” he finally resigned to his fate. “It, ah, happened during the mage uprising in Kirkwall…”

“And here you said it wasn’t anything spectacular,” she chided him. “I’m sure only the most boring stories start with that sentence.”

He pinched her in her highly ticklish side for interrupting.

“Sorry!” She squeaked, giggling a little and batting his hand away before he could do it again. “Sorry, please continue with your tremendously uninteresting tale.”

“The champion and her companions had just left, but the entire city was still in chaos,” Cullen continued. “So we decided to keep the damage to a minimum and try to catch as many escaped mages as we could before things could escalate further.” He paused there, frowning. “You have to know that we were at the Gallows at the time, former slaving pens built by the Tevinter Imperium.”

“I am aware, yes,” she said. She had read Varric’s book, after all. More often than was probably healthy. “And I still wonder whether choosing to house a circle there is completely revolting, or strangely appropriate.”

“Be that as it may,” he continued before she could start a lecture on the subject. “I’m sure you noticed that Tevinter architecture tends to be a bit… Dramatic.”

“Everything and everyone Tevinter I have so far encountered was best described as dramatic,” Arenya deadpanned. “Except maybe Krem. And he at least has the dramatic backstory going for him. In any case, what does _that_ have to do with anything?”

“You see, ancient Tevinter had a preoccupation with adding spiked ornamentation to everything,” Cullen explained, quicker than he usually was prone to do, apparently in an effort to just get it all out. “Walls, windows, doors… Everywhere, really. And we were in a real hurry, so, I, ah… I opened a door too quickly.”

“Let me get this straight,” Arenya demanded, sitting up to get a better view of his face for this. “You hit yourself. In the face. With a dramatically decorated door.”

“It was already loose in its hinges,” he explained further, sounding really embarrassed now. “It more or less… Fell on me when I tried to open it.”

“So the dramatically decorated door attacked you first,” she summarized this, and then just couldn’t keep from being overcome by laughter.

“And this is why I didn’t want to tell you,” Cullen grumbled and rolled over on his side, turning his back to her. “Can we talk about _anything_ else now?”

“I’m sorry!” She gasped, holding her aching stomach and wiping away her tears before lying back down and snuggling up to him again. “But… The scar. It healed so well and has no tissue bulging outwards, so the cut can’t have healed on its own. Never mind the fact you can’t really bandage your lip very well.”

“One of the peaceful mages took pity on me and healed it,” he explained, sounding annoyed. “You also can’t save a city when choking on your own blood. Are you done laughing at me now?”

“I’m sorry,” Arenya apologized and pressed a soft kiss to his neck. “I didn’t mean to make fun of you.” She pressed closer and closed her eyes. “Just… If anyone else ever asks you again, maybe go with the assassins? To add some flair, you know?”

Cullen sighed deeply even as grabbed the arm she had draped over him to pull her closer and interlace their fingers.

“Maker preserve me, you obviously spend too much time with Varric.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to thank whoever posted that in-depth meta on Cullen's scar and its medical implications on tumblr. If I find the post again, I'll name-drop them here. And also fontofnothing, also from tumblr, who posts amazing hd gigantic screenshots of Cullen, which served as, uh, research material for this. Yes. That.
> 
> For lots of Cullen and other fun stuff, feel free to look for a vohalika on tumblr.


End file.
